Mayor-Board of Alderman Form (Lawrason Act)

The officers of a Lawrason Act municipality are a mayor, aldermen, a chief of police, a tax collector, and a clerk. The number of aldermen varies from three to nine, depending upon whether the municipality is a village, town, or city (a classification determined by population). The mayor is elected at large. Aldermen are elected pursuant to statute (according to the number of aldermen, a certain number are elected by districts and a certain number at large) or the board may establish, by ordinance, a different manner of electing aldermen. The Lawrason Act generally provides that the police chief is elected at large. However, the Act also provides that, if the board of aldermen receives a petition signed by twenty-five percent of the qualified municipal electors, it shall call an election on the question of making the police chief an appointed officer. In addition, special provisions provide for appointed chiefs in a number of municipalities. (For further discussion of elected v. appointed police chiefs, see Recurring Issues below.) Terms of office for municipal elected officials are four years. After each regular municipal election, the mayor and board of aldermen appoint a clerk, tax collector, and all other necessary officers (R.S. 33:381 et seq.).

The powers of a mayor-board of aldermen municipal government were originally limited to those specified in the Act itself. This often hampered local officials in their administration of municipal affairs. In 1985-86, the first comprehensive revision of the Lawrason Act since its enactment in 1898 was undertaken. Among the significant features of this revision are: (1) the grant of authority to municipalities to exercise any power and perform any function necessary, requisite, or proper for the management of their affairs not denied by law (R.S. 33:361); and (2) delineating the respective powers and duties of the officials of a Lawrason Act municipality, particularly by designating the mayor as the chief executive officer and the board of aldermen as the legislative body of the municipality (R.S. 33:362).